


Winter Road Trip

by fanwit



Series: 25 Days of Sevart [13]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Gen, but I'm tagging this /properly/ because i dont want to get your hopes up, me: bitter I did not write any slash :/, then maybe it'll become slash or polyam, uhh if you guys like this enough i might come back and add more to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 15:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanwit/pseuds/fanwit
Summary: Everybody’s on a small road trip in winter.





	Winter Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

> I've never driven in the snow or at all. My [tumblr](http://fanwit.tumblr.com)

"No, I think that's a nickel..." Arthur frowns at the coins in his hand. Severus leans over and squints.

"Suppose so, it looks smaller than the quarter."

"They look too similar."

The car inches forward slowly and Arthur looks up wildly.

"Wait, wait, are we paying yet?"

"No," Mad-Eye grunts and yanks his hat further down over his glass eye. "Is this a machine or a person?" Severus squints and sees a faint shadow of what looks like a hand taking money from another hand.

"Looks like a person," Severus says.

"Is it too late to switch?" Arthur asks worriedly then looks back down at the coins. "Er, how much was it again?"

Mad-Eye mutters something undecipherable and Arthur nods. Severus sits back down and crosses his arms. He didn't want to be in America in the middle of winter in a car with _Mad-Eye_ and Arthur. He looks out the window. He can't see out of it.

"After this, we probably should stop for the night," Mad-Eye says. "I can't see for shit, even with my other eye."

"Oh, I assumed that was just me." Arthur sounds relieved. Why did Severus get stuck with two people with eye problems? Why couldn't he have gotten stuck with McGonagall and whoever she was with?

Once again he curses Dumbledore for having the foresight to put portkeys in headquarters but not the foresight to actually discuss escape plans with any of them. Arthur hasn't seen his family in ages, none of them have managed to get in touch with any other Order member, hell, everybody could be dead for all they knew.

"Okay, you have the money ready?"

"What?! No, no, no, stall, shit!"

"Hurry up, it isn't that hard."

"Why don't you do it then?!"

"I'm driving."

Arthur swears loudly and dumps some money into Mad-Eye's outreached hand. Mad-Eye doesn't seem to look at it but Severus's sure he's checking with the glass eye.

"Hello!" the tollperson says and Mad-Eye hands over the money. The person smiles and the bar goes up and they drive off.

"That wasn't as bad as you were making it out to be." Mad-Eye leans forward, fiddles with a lever, and starts up the water. "Dammit, which one was the-"

Arthur leans over, adjusts the lever, and the wipers start.

"Knew you'd get the hang of the currency eventually, you did fine."

Severus sighs. "Where are we stopping?"

"Well, we have enough for a very cheap hotel." Arthur looks down at the pile of coins. "A _very_ cheap hotel."

"We could try sleeping in the car?"

"Absolutely not," Mad-Eye declares. "We're going to a friend's."

"Who?"

"Ask Arthur."

Arthur does not say anything.

"Arthur?" Severus asks.

"Ah, one of... One of my brother's friends, I think." This is an obvious lie. Arthur hunches over.

"Arthur and him used to be pen pals," Mad-Eye volunteers. "Arthur's visited a couple of times, direct floo though." Arthur groans.

"So Arthur's been here before?"

"Not, not really, he used to live in China. Hong Kong." Arthur looks out the window. He blows onto the window and begins tracing figures in the fog.

"Think he'll be willing to let us stay?"

"Only if we'll watch Doctor Who."

"I like that show!"

"Really?" Arthur twists around and looks at Severus with wide eyes. "Which doctor who did you watch?"

"Er, started with Troughton, stopped before Baker came." Severus frowns. He hadn't gotten to see Baker because he couldn't go over to Lily's and he just lost interest. It had been good when he was watching though, he hadn't thought about that show in ages.

"Ooh, missed a lot of episodes, I'd bet," Arthur says. "Hogwarts and all, right?"

Mad-Eye swears quietly and fiddles with the switch. The wipers go faster. Arthur glances over then back to Severus.

"Missed a lot of Hartnell myself, Hogwarts got in the way, but got to watch because my mum would watch for me." Arthur smiles a little at the memory. It’s a nice smile, Severus hasn’t seen him smile in a while. "She'd put it in a pensieve and I'd get to watch with her."

"I'm not sure if that’s allowed," Mad-Eye cuts in.

"Oh, who cares if it’s illegal?" Arthur shakes his head. "Mr. Keung liked it, we'd share with each other too."

"Er, is that the friend's name?" Severus asks.

"Yup, Keung Tan Ming."

"You call him Mr. Keung?" Mad-Eye asks. "Aren't you two friends?"

"Hm, didn't want you to assume you could call him anything else."

Arthur grins at Severus then turns back around in his seat. He begins rummaging through the glove compartment.

"Whaddya doing?" Mad-Eye looks briefly away from the road then back. "I don't think we have anything in there."

"Think he'd like a car manual?"

"How come you're looking for something to give him?" Severus begins going through his pockets anyway.

"Don't want to be rude."

Severus pulls out a bottle. He squints to read his handwriting. _Skelegro_ , it reads and Severus looks back over to Arthur.

"Will Skelegro work?"

"Hm?" Arthur twists around. "Oh, do, do you just have a bunch of potions in your pockets?"

"Well, you never know when first aid's needed."

"That type of thinking is exactly what we need," Mad-Eye says approvingly. Holy shit, was Mad-Eye actually saying Severus would make a good auror? If Black was here, he'd be so upset. Severus hands over the potion to Arthur who examines it.

"Oh, take the next right," Arthur says absentmindedly and Mad-Eye swears loudly.

"Couldn't you have told me earlier?"

Severus flinches at the loud screech and honking from behind them.

"Right, right, we didn't die," Mad-Eye mumbles as a car slides on the ice past them. His hands are white from gripping the wheel. "We're alive."

Severus isn't looking forward to when it's his turn to drive. He hopes Mr. Keung Tan Ming will be a very gracious host who's willing to let them stay forever.


End file.
